The Best Spike Lee quotes

When you love something it’s not a job anymore. — Spike Lee

It is really important that young people find something that they want to do and pursue it with passion. I’m very passionate about filmmaking. It’s what I love to do. — Spike Lee

I thank the screen actors guIld for theIr support of the esteemed ensemble of da 5 bloods. also a love shout to all of the actors who dId da damn thang. — Spike Lee

I was very happy for steve mcqueen, I wanted to be there because I knew It was goIng to be hIstorIc. — Spike Lee

They opened up the academy to make the academy look more like america. — Spike Lee

Violence is a part of America. I don’t want to single out rap music. Let’s be honest. America’s the most violent country in the history of the world, that’s just the way it is. We’re all affected by it. — Spike Lee

Racism in America absolutely exists–it is an issue. We need to fix it. We’re a great country–probably the greatest country but we could be a hell of a lot greater. — Spike Lee

Look, there’s no negating the fact that he’s a great showman. but we’re talking about the highest office in the united states of america. this is not a tv show. — Spike Lee

America doesn’t have the moral right to tell other people what to do. To say the whole world has to fall into line is you–know–what. I hope more people will rise up. — Spike Lee

People think I’m this angry black man walking around in a constant state of rage. — Spike Lee

Blacks are getting lynched left and right, and [bagger vance is] more concerned about improving matt damon’s golf swing, green book. — Spike Lee

It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it’s been a quest since then to define who we are. — Spike Lee

I’d like to state that Spike Lee is not saying that African American culture is just for black people alone to enjoy and cherish. Culture is for everybody. — Spike Lee

Sex and racism have always been tied together. Look at the thousands of black men who got lynched and castrated. The reason the Klan came into being was to protect white southern women. — Spike Lee

Amongst black people, you have always heard it said that once a black man reaches a certain level, especially if you are an entertainer, you get a white trophy woman. I didn’t make that up. — Spike Lee

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don’t have access to power and the media. I have to take advantage of that while I’m still bankable. — Spike Lee

There’s a lot of Americans, black and white, who think that we’ve arrived where we need to be and nothing else needs to be done and affirmative action needs to be dismantled. — Spike Lee

The only people who said no was nypd. They don’t look good in this. and that footage [of police officers assaulting black lives matter protesters in 2020] does not lie. They were cracking heads. — Spike Lee

I’ve never seen black men with fine white women. They be ugly. Mugly dogs. — Spike Lee

We’ve got to turn this backward thinking around where ignorance is championed over intelligence. Young black kids being ridiculed by their peers for getting A’s and speaking proper English: that’s criminal. — Spike Lee

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they’ve forgotten. — Spike Lee

You know that first of all your films have to make money no matter who you are. — Spike Lee

I don’t think I’m a total pessimist, so I think you can find hope in all my films. — Spike Lee

I am a hybrid. I do independent films and also do Hollywood films–I love them both. — Spike Lee

I’ll be vilified if I shoot a film in Toronto for New York. And rightfully so! — Spike Lee

I didn’t dream about being a director. I didn’t know I wanted to do something with film until the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Morris College in Atlanta, Georgia. — Spike Lee

I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I’m a New York filmmaker. — Spike Lee

I don’t think my films are going to get rid of racism or prejudice. I think the best thing my films can do is provoke discussion. — Spike Lee

I wouldn’t be doing motherfu**ing films for almost three decades if every time I did something that someone didn’t like I went in a fu**ing cocoon and just hid there and didn’t make my art. — Spike Lee

I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful. — Spike Lee

Th Hour,’ like a lot of my films, takes place in New York City. I’ve been very fortunate to make films in the city that I live. I mean, it’s great going home at night instead of being on location. — Spike Lee

Any time you talk about the look of the film, it’s not just the director and the director of photography. You have to include the costume designer and the production designer. — Spike Lee

If people go to IMDB, they will see that I’m very comfortable with independent cinema, and doing studio films too. For me this is not an either/or situation. — Spike Lee

I think that every minority in the United States of America knows everything about the dominant culture. From the time you can think, you are bombarded with images from TV, film, magazines, newspapers. — Spike Lee

I’m very careful about how I portray violence in my films. I do believe that violence, especially violent video games, are not a good thing for young kids. — Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing’ was my first union film. I looked at the rosters, and for the most part, it was white males. Especially the Teamsters. So we had some conversations. — Spike Lee

There’s an unwritten law that you cannot have a Jewish character in a film who isn’t 100 percent perfect, or you’re labeled anti–Semitic. — Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing’ was like the first film where I really felt comfortable working with actors. — Spike Lee

First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms. — Spike Lee

I am trying to stay away from this position of me ‘returning to my roots.’ As if my roots are that I’m only comfortable working on low–budget, small films. That’s not the case at all. — Spike Lee

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can’t just sit back and let other people define our existence. — Spike Lee

Making films has got to be one of the hardest endeavors known to humankind. — Spike Lee

I’m just trying to tell a good story and make thought–provoking, entertaining films. I just try and draw upon the great culture we have as a people, from music, novels, the streets. — Spike Lee

I tend to favour films that have multiple plot and story lines, multiple characters and ensemble pieces. — Spike Lee

Any film I do is not going to change the way black women have been portrayed, or black people have been portrayed, in cinema since the days of D.W. Griffith. — Spike Lee

I want to tell stories, I don’t really try to get boxed in by a specific genre. — Spike Lee

All directors are storytellers, so the motivation was to tell the story I wanted to tell. That’s what I love. — Spike Lee

I’m not the go–to guy. Everybody is trying to tell their story and have different ways of telling it. — Spike Lee

Music is, for me, a great tool of a filmmaker, the same way cinematography, the acting, editing, post–production, the costumes are. You know, to help you tell a story. — Spike Lee